The party returned from the distant alternate plane of Kronosti to a changed realm. In one instant they were fleeing a hit squad of very nasty undead that had been set up at the mushroom ring, and the next they found themselves once again in their warehouse retreat in the city of Arhus in Gwynyth Raius. But things weren’t exactly as they had left them. On their appearance, they were met by the stench of old feces, sulfur and brimstone. The interior of the warehouse was destroyed and desecrated with graffiti and threats to their persons. The names Jean-Jacques and Tomas were prominently displayed in several places. The sudden appearance of the party frightened a lone crow that had made its nest in a pile of rubble. It flew out a hole in the ceiling, squawking angrily at them.
Worried about their hidden treasures, the party quickly went downstairs to their vaults. Passing more wreckage along the way, Dray is particularly upset to find his alchemy lab destroyed. To no surprise, the party finds that the vault has been broken into and all their treasures taken from Myrddin gone. Worse, all their spellbooks and libraries were gone as well. Many of the wizards had chafed at their small selection of spells they were forced to carry, and were looking forward to rearranging their repertoire. Now they couldn’t do this. Jorgie was quiet, studying one small section of the vault carefully, then enigmatically saying that he might be able to help out.
Back upstairs, the party decides to take a look out in the city. The scene they are greeted with outside is one familiar and not familiar. The streets are choked with refugees once more, but much more than there was when Myrddin was laying siege to the city. Making their way through the streets and questioning the people and guards, the party learns that yes, the city is under siege again. But this time from the Empire. The Coalition remains as a unit, but failed to hold the lands they had taken from the Empire. They were pushed back until now again, only Arhus remains.
Making their way towards the castle to report to the king, the party learns some astonishing facts. After the fall of Myrddin, General Jurgen with a force of Gwynyth Raiun soldiers, 100 elven archers, and Master Wolfram, pushed their way into the once former Gwynyth Raius to reclaim the lands. At first they met with some success, but then the forces of the Empire somehow gained a strong foothold in those lands, led by a certain General Malice. This force was able to push back the attack, and in the process General Jurgen was slain. Master Wolfram took control of an orderly retreat back to Arhus, and it is indeed this same General Malice that now leads the great Imperial army that lays outside of the city walls. Curious as to why the Coalition failed so utterly, someone asks a guard how the revolt in Croy fares. The answer: "There’s a revolt in Croy? What are you talking about?"
Obviously, the Emperor has used the Circlet again to change history. There never was a revolt in Croy, and the party later learns that in this new version of history they tried and failed to start the revolt instead of succeeding. The leaders of the Coalition were not happy with the party for that, but they did later redeem themselves by eliminating Myrddin. The smells of smoke and the sense of loss of hope is very prevalent in the city as they pass through, but finally they reach the palace and find things mostly intact. Fortunately, time moved at the same speed here as in Kronosti so the party did not lose any additional time.
The coalition leaders are very busy that day and are unable to see the party. Ulrich briefly meets up with Thecla and arranges for her to stop by the warehouse later on that evening. At this point, the party splits up to do some different tasks. Jorgie slips away quietly into the crowd. Smythe and Dray return to clean up the warehouse some, after finding that they must stay there as there are no other lodgings available anywhere, shooing out the crow several times. Ulrich takes the dwarves to the temple district of the city. All along the way now, the crowds have been giving the dwarves very distrustful looks and even muttered insults. Apparently the only dwarves that these people know are the ones serving on the side of the empire, and the party fears that their companions may be attacked if they are caught alone. Ulrich commandeers a few off-duty soldiers as guards and they head off. Ulrich tries to make his way into the crowded temple of Hysor first, but finally just gives up after making a sizable donation.
Thraxx finds the temple of Surgyth, and after having proved himself in the fire, is admitted in for some time in solitude with the flame. Ulrich and Gorestagg pass by a strange scene at the temple of Lugh. The temple itself is in great disrepair, and looks nearly deserted. A crowd of people are throwing rotten vegetables and insults at the temple while a few bored guards half-heartedly keep them from outright vandalism. Some careful questions and they learn that the crowd thinks Lugh is an imposter. An evil wizard who long ago managed to imprison, with the help of the heretic Nuath, the rightful god of magic Maal. And ever since, Lugh has been creating and supporting all the other evil wizards that have plagued the realm throughout history. Vald, Kurgar, Lotharingen to name just a few. Ulrich is very disturbed, remembering what he learned from Searched about the future: that Lugh is the next target of Gaal, and indeed it looks like the groundwork is already being laid. Moving on, Gorestagg and Ulrich find another crowd outside the Temple of Duath. Here, it is a bit calmer as a priest of Duath preaches about the true practices of Duath the Shield. But some of the crowd is upset, complaining about the imprisonment of relatives and willful alliance of Duath with certain forces of the Empire. That Duath is nothing but a jailer and ruiner of freedoms. The crowd isn’t too hostile; it appears to be more of a debate. Gorestagg is admitted to the temple after surrendering his weapons (standard practice).
After some seclusion time, they return to the warehouse, now cleaned up and the worst of the graffiti painted over. They find Jorgie already there with some disturbing news. He has learned from his contacts that the word on the street is that the Coalition intends to surrender to the Empire within the week. He also has news that Black Bat, the leader of the underground here in Arhus wants to meet with the party and strike some kind of deal. He has their spellbooks to offer in trade for something. The party is dubious at best about meeting and dealing with such a character. They decide they’ll meet with him carefully, prepared to bug out if necessary.
Discussion commences and the party decides that now is the time to strike Felipe. There can be no more delay, especially if the rumors about the surrender is true. They don’t have a great plan yet, but they know they must move soon. They will wait the two days to report, and prepare as they can. They will meet with the Bat after the Coalition meeting. Their meeting with Thecla is short, and doesn’t reveal much information. Ulrich tries to make arrangements to get his spells back from the school. Thecla reveals that the school was destroyed again, and worse, the library with it. They were able to save what books they can, but the bulk are gone. The school of Evocation is all but gone. All that remain are her and Ulrich and a handful of journeymen. She agrees to send one by to help Ulrich get some spells the next day. The next morning, the party is met with the sounds of commotion out in the city. It appears that the Empire forces have attacked the city. Rushing out to help as they can, they pick a direction of one of the phalanxes headed towards the walls. They reach the walls a minute too late to stop a raging blizzard appearing on a section of the wall, and the sounds of dying and destruction coming from within.
When they get there, a successful dispel magic remove the blizzard to reveal most of the defending forces dead and frozen, and a frost giant just finishing up smashing a breach in the wall. The party rushes into battle. A lone elven archer and a handful of nearly frozen defenders remain to stop the giant and the hundreds of men behind it. Hovering above it all, a conjurer riding a giant wasp mount summoning forth powerful magics and creatures. This is the parties primary target. The power of the Harmonious Seven has increased drastically over their time in Kronosti, and this one mage, giant, and men is no match for them. The wizard only gets two spells off before he is polymorphed into a turtle by Dray, and when the uncontrolled wasp flies away, the Frost Giant simply explodes, decimating good and evil forces likely, nearly taking Gorestagg with it. But the power of Duath protected him. The forces of the empire are pushed back and the breach sealed with magic walls of stone.
The lone elf introduces himself as Redspring and asks to come with the party now that the reinforcements are arriving. They zoom off to see if they can aid elsewhere, but it looks like the worst is over and the Coalition forces rally to hold off the attack. In a moment of calm, the party talks with Redspring some more and he formally asks to join in their fight and to serve by their side for his unit is completely destroyed and he is all alone. They further learn from him that most of his unit elected to join King Trent II of Caedir in his heroic delaying action that allowed the bulk of the Coalition army to survive the retreat back to Arhus. Without that effort, the pursuing imperial army would have likely caught them in the open ground and slaughtered them. But it was not without cost. King Trent was captured by the Empire.
That evening, the party receives a visitor. It is Jeremiah, the priest of Lugh that had befriended them and helped them on several occasions. He is more gaunt and unsure of himself now, moving with stealth through the city lest he be lynched for being what he is. He talks with the party and Ulrich in particular, and confirms what they already knew of how the populace thinks of Lugh. His calculations show discrepancies, and the party explains this with the Circlet of Images. He also tells them that he thinks that very soon the High Temple of Lugh will be attacked by the Empire. He isn’t sure of the exact time, however (that’s not his forte). Worse, the High Temple is a mere 60 to 80 miles away from the capital of the Empire. Jeremiah asks for their help, and agrees to accompany them on whatever it is they decide to do.
The plans begin to gel, for with the power of Lugh’s folding of space, the party can move a larger force to wherever it is they go. There is some argument about how to proceed: do they use the power of the Kronosti Blossom to stop the slaying of Lugh? Do they use it to go straight for Felipe? After some time, they figure that it will probably be best to go straight for Felipe at the precise moment when the Temple is under attack, thus all attention will be there. They decide to go soon after their meetings; by the end of the week.
Another visitor arrives. It is Master Wolfram coming to extend greetings with his old comrades. The conversation is a bit stiff and formal. It appears to be more of a polite hello kind of thing. But the party thinks about maybe asking him to join them on their raid.
The day of the meeting with the Coalition. The party is escorted through the palace to a large meeting room. They are admitted in front of the council, seeing many familiar faces: King Calvin, Thecla, Master Dyson, Duke Cecil, Lord Griffith, Ivo Bruss, Conjurer King Butard, and Queen Flacia of the elves. Missing is King Trent as they knew. The party reports some of their success, masking many details about the Blossom, not trusting it to open conversation. They talk about the Circlet again, and are met by the scornful remarks of King Butard. In fact, he does a lot of talking now, and it appears that there has been a certain subtle power shift in the council. Tempers begin to flare throughout the meeting and Smythe has a few hot words with the King. It is almost revealed that the presence of the coalition is because of the party and the Virdian Sphere. This is met with very sharp looks and hissing intakes of breath from Master Dyson and King Calvin. King Calvin interjects a break, asking the servants to provide some tea. Afterwards, the conversation continues a bit more calmly. King Butard outrightly refuses to allow the party to continue acting in their "wild rogue" agent capacity. He doesn’t want their actions to jeopardize the Coalitions plans, whatever they may be (he won’t reveal them). He really doesn’t approve of the party’s intentions to take out Felipe.
The meetings really don’t turn up anything useful. The Coalition seems set on doing what they are doing for the good of the people, and the party continues to not have their sanction to work. When the subject of the dwarves is brought up, and the champions announce that they are emissaries sent to deal with the problem by their Aspects, King Butard responds with a "oh isn’t that nice for you" kind of attitude. Finally, the party leaves, some in a huff. The meeting hasn’t done much except inform the Coalition of what the party has been doing in the past 7 months, and incite the party to ignore them and continue on with the plan. Outside, they meet with Wolfram again, and enlist his support for the assault. He will be coming.
They go almost straight from this meeting to their meeting with the Bat. Quietly led by thieves and underground agents blindfolded through the underground passages and sewers, they are finally led to a darkened room, eerie and ominous. Inside, even the dwarves cannot penetrate the dark and see what lies within. The whispering raspy voice of the Bat comes out of the dark and offers this deal: he knows of the Circlet and the party’s plan to go get it from Felipe. He will provide the party with their missing spellbooks in return for their promise to use the Circlet to make him the leader of the entire underground organization. The party refuses on many principles, not the least of which being that they really don’t want to use the Circlet to further compound the ruin of history. The Bat’s response, well of course you’ll be using the Circlet. You have to fix all the damage done. The party, no, we’ll let the aspects fix it once we return it to them. And the bat just laughs. "Oh really? And just which one are you going to give it to? You really think that they are going to make everything just hunky dorey once that they have the Circlet back? You forget your religious history!" Jorgie remembers a bit of the teachings: that the Three have been at odds since the beginning. The Stony God wants complete stasis. The Fiery Goddess wants to ruin everything and start all over again. And The Faceless One, well, who knows what he wants. Complete intellect?
Passing on that question, they get back to the immediate. They refuse to make the deal with the Bat. They are about to leave when Jorgie, unable to let his spellbooks go, makes a counteroffer, pulling out a giant slab of diamond. The party can hear the drool in the darkness. The Bat asks, if you have another like that, the books are yours. The party pulls out another. The deal is struck and the books returned. Simple money saves the day when Jorgie remembers that these are thieves.
With books in hand, they return to the warehouse. Jeremiah and Ungrumm had been left behind while they had their meetings. It was time to collect them and prepare to go. They opened the doors to the warehouse to see that two more visitors had come: Jean-Jacques and Tomas in their human guises are sitting around drinking tea with Jeremiah and Ungrumm, who don’t know any better. Sitting on Tomas’ shoulder is the crow that was hanging around the warehouse. The party springs into action.
Do they flee or fight is the big question that comes up in the first few minutes of battle. The demons drop their illusions right off the bat, and are revealed to still be supported by the black powers of the Daemoi. Invincible except when faced with extraordinary means, they will surely crush the party. But when Ulrich runs up, the aura of the blossom manifests and a surprised Tomas and Jean-Jacques are now vulnerable as the nimbus of black power disappears. The attacks of the demons are focused on Ulrich. Jean-Jacques’ unnaturally sharp blade whisks by him several times. The battle is intense as the dwarves and the wizards try to defend Ulrich and attack at the same time. Jorgie manages to get up a defense screen that will prevent the summoning of more demons. A bit into the fight, the crow polymorphs into its natural form: an ice demon Gelugon. Then, Ulrich uses his last wish: wishing that Tomas were free from the demonic transformation and whole and human again. Within the confines of the blossom, the link to the diabolic power is broken and thus the wish has the power to succeed. Perhaps because Tomas was never dead, and transformed when alive. The wish succeeds, and a very surprised Tomas stands with the party. With no spells or items, he quickly makes a hasty retreat while an enraged Jean-Jacques tries to finish the job. The Gelugon proves to be quite formidable as it continues drops sharp chunks of ice on the party.
Then the unthinkable, Ulrich falls unconscious and is about to be slain. Jorgie to the rescue, pulling out the Handkerchief of Cecht and fully healing him. But then the next minute, the sharp demon blade connects with Ulrich’s head and severs it. A miracle, the necklace Ulrich wears flashes, and the handkerchief that was still on his forehead works and he is immediately healed. Jean-Jacques is being beat upon little by little, and Smythe drops a wall of force around Ulrich and a near dead Gorestagg to prevent Jean-Jacques from finishing them. Jean-Jacques turns to Dray, who had been cutting him quite badly with his sword, and with a single swing, lops off Drays head. But a moment later, the collective power of the party comes to bear and Jean-Jacques falls. The Gelugon had been slain only a few moments earlier by Thraxx.
Jorgie’s eyes gleamed as he looked at the wicked looking blade that had the power to sever heads near Jean-Jacques’ outstretched hand. He couldn’t contain himself, and before anyone could stop him, he reached out to grasp it. There was a blast which nearly killed him, and he knew he barely survived being slain outright. Shortly afterwards, Redspring returned with a patrol of paladins coming to help fight the demons. But they were a bit too late. The party asks them to cordon off the building to prevent anyone from disturbing the sword, while most of the party went off in pursuit of Tomas. Smythe stayed behind.
Tomas’ path was not hard to find. The streets of Arhus were clogged with refugees still, and they were still talking about the half-mad, half-naked man running through their midst. His path leads straight to the palace. At first the guards don’t let Ulrich and the companions in, but after some word is sent back in, they are permitted into the palace. They are escorted through the busiest parts towards the back and personal quarters. They are led into a room that is busy with traffic: priests and wizards and servants flow in and out. Inside they find Tomas snugly in bed, being examined closely by the abovementioned experts. To one side is King Calvin, and also present are Thecla and Master Dyson. They are probing Tomas carefully to figure out what has happened. Ulrich, ever pushy, moves up and begins his interrogation as well.
After some initial questions about the outcome of the battle in the warehouse and the condition of the world, Tomas decides that he better tell everyone present about what happened to him. Just as the party was setting out to reclaim the Viridian Sphere (and Tomas realizes he mentioned it in nonsecure quarters, earning a stern glance from Dyson), he and Dyson were working on learning what the future held for the world. They were learning that large things were looming on the horizon, and Ulrich and his party were to play a large part. Then, news came of their encounter with Felipe and his shadow army, specifically through King Trent and the recovery of the Amulet of Shadows. But during that fight, Ulrich was slain. By all accounts, the future readings that they were getting still included Ulrich. Obviously, he must come back somehow.
They also learned of the capture and conversion of Ulrich’s soul into that of a demon by Mefis. It was clear that Mefis had no intention of ever releasing Ulrich’s soul to be returned to life in any way. And if even if he did, there might be some catch that could turn all the future events in his favor. Here is where Dyson and Tomas split opinions. Dyson wanted to let things unfold naturally and not interfere. Tomas went off on his own and learned more through consultation with the priests of Epolde and Othmina of when Ulrich might be coming back. Then, on the predicted time, Tomas went alone and called Mefis to him. He offered his living body and soul up in exchange for Ulrich’s. And it was this alone that allowed Dray’s Boon of Nuath to succeed in restoring Ulrich to life. Otherwise, Mefis would never have released his soul. Mefis was quite content to give up a dead soul for a live one. It was also clear that Mefis would make a deal now, and then put his resources into reclaiming Ulrich (hence all the attacks from Jean-Jacques and co-horts since his recovery). Tomas wouldn’t speak of the torture he endured while in the service of Mefis. He also hadn’t quite realized what he was getting into either. Given a choice to do it again, it seems likely he wouldn’t.
The party is shooed out of his room so that Tomas can rest and recover. Before they go, Ulrich asks if he will go with them to hit Felipe. Tomas refuses. In the meantime, Smythe remained in the warehouse to watch over the body of Dray, the demons, and the infernal sword. The paladin leader returns a short time later with several priests and Master Franklin, the Water Elementalist. They consult and try a few things on the sword. Finally, Franklin simply puts a resilient sphere around the sword, and roll it on out to the Temple of Hysor where it will be destroyed properly. Smythe asks Master Franklin about joining them on their run. He refuses for the simple fact that there is no water in the mountainous country where the capital city is.
They retire for the night and wake up the next morning to the awful stench of burning demon bodies. The dwarves have risen early to do that little bit of cleanup, utilizing the remains of Dray’s forge for that purpose. Afterwards, they drag Ulrich with them to go to the city walls and for the first time gaze upon the massive army that has lain siege to the city.
The army is beyond description. Ranks upon ranks of soldiers go as far as the eye can see. Sections have been designated where strange creatures are quartered, obviously conjured by the wizards present. The same wizards that can sometimes be seen flying around on giant insects. An occasional giant is seen striding through the ranks. At the forefront, magnificent siege engines of dwarven design and construction face the city with teams of dwarven slaves refining and tuning them. It is early morning so they are witness to the work. Ungrumm stands upon the walls and tries to give the dwarves hope that the Aspects that he and his two companions champion have sent them to free them. One dwarf cheers Ungrumm and is promptly slain by the human taskmasters for it. Then the daily barrage is ordered and the siege engines as one begin their precise work of pounding upon the city walls.
Meanwhile, Smythe has been elected to take Dray’s body to the High Temple of Arawn for a possible resurrection. Armed with chunks of diamond from Kronosti, Smythe teleports to the dark temple and once again humbly asks for Dray’s return under the swaying sword. After a time, the priests complete their prayers and Arawn has once again granted life again to Dray. A word from the High Priest gives the party hope: so long as the party continues to fight against the Daemoi, then their task is not done and Arawn may continue to grant them life. Dray and Smythe return to plan the final assault.
Jeremiah has been working on the precise time when the High Temple of Lugh will be attacked, so that they may be prepared. Master Wolfram arrives a day or so later to plan as well, and he brought with him four young but seasoned paladins to assist. The plan begins to form: Jeremiah will use his dimensional folding to get the party just outside the castle walls, then using the Blossom to remove the protections of the Daemoi, Smythe will create a passage through the stone until they gain entry. Then, Jeremiah will again use the folding to get them to the room where Felipe is and the assault will begin. Dray will use the patterns to return them home. Dray and Jeremiah closet off together and through many uses of magic mirror and his spells are able to depict a nice picture of the castle and are also able to find the best spot for the first fold. Now all they need is the right time.
Since their first visit to the wall, the dwarves have returned every morning. The day before it is expected they will make their trip, there is a change in the routine. The daily barrage doesn’t begin, and instead a great procession is seen working through the ranks of the attacking army. Flags of the Empire, 5 priesthoods, schools of magic, and so on can be seen marching towards the city gate. Then, the gate opens and a procession of the coalition leaders, also with great pomp and circumstance, marches out. Servants set up a great tent and the two sides meet. The party assumes the worst: the city might be surrendering. All day the two sides meet, and the party agonizes. Then, at dusk, the sides break up and return. The party immediately rushes to the palace in their wake and demand to see the coalition. They are refused. Probably due in many ways to the outcome of their last meeting with the coalition.
The party is beginning to be afraid that they will soon find themselves in hostile Empire territory even here in the city. They aren’t sure if they can come back, successful or not from their strike. The next day, Jeremiah comes tearing into the room just after morning prayers and studies are complete. The attack on the High Temple has begun. The party assembles and begins their immediate protective magics. Smythe tries to summon his planned elementals but finds at the last minute that his staff of sands is out of charges. They will go on without the elementals. The fold to the outside portion of the castle works without a hitch, and invisible they move up to the castle walls. No alarms. The hole is made through several rooms, and the guards aren’t quite surprised, but have little time to react as the party swiftly moves through the first room into the hallway beyond. Alarms are raised, but the party doesn’t dally and Jeremiah casts his spell to conduct the second fold. They step through into the master planning room of the palace and Emperor Felipe.
It is a large room, enough to hold several hundred. A large table can easily seat 50 people when the needs of the Empire require it. Numerous doors line all the walls. Rich tapestries and chandeliers adorn the walls and ceiling respectively. But the room is now very underutilized. Only 8 people are here now, and they all sit at one end of the table watching a large mirror set upon a golden easel. In this mirror is being played out the battle that is occurring just a few miles away at the High Temple of Lugh. Seated at the table are the following: Emperor Felipe, just now closing a small book and putting it away at the parties arrival. He wears a brilliant yellow robe with golden eyes embroidered on it. He holds a golden scepter. Elrin, dressed completely in black, with black skin and eyes. He has a shield next to his chair and a sword strapped to his waist. His loose voluminous robes obscure what kind of armor he might be wearing. General Liam, in brilliant plate armor with a fantastic two handed battle axe of obvious dwarven make, recognizable even at this distance by the three champions. Horik, in his blue robes of office, holding on to an ancient polished staff with a pulsing diamond in the top. An abjurer in orange robes, holding a blue crystal wand. An enchanter, unobtrusively sitting off to one side. A priest in simple grey robes also off to one side. Lastly, the occupant chained to a chair, half naked, and being forced to watch the events unraveling upon the mirror: King Trent II.
The party leaps into action, spreading out and beginning to cast their spells just as the Emperor and his forces do the same. Jorgie manages to blanket the entire area with a dispel magic that interrupts the castings of most of the evil casters present, including Felipe who was using his powerful rod to control their minds. Master Wolfram charges up with Hallowed Redeemer blazing in his hand, causing Elrin to run in fear. Ulrich used a devious second level spell, knock, to open up all the containers of all present. But more importantly, it screwed up General Liam’s armor and powerful belt of strength and freed the chains holding King Trent. The King immediately leaped into a flying tackle on General Liam.
Then, Felipe reaches into his robes to grasp the Circlet of Images and calls out Krimgot, and instantly reality is changed. Jorgie never cast that dispel magic that ruined all the first opportunities at magic by the evil folks. Instead, he cast an anti-magic shell. The outcome, however, is not as good for Felipe as he had hoped. The charge of Master Wolfram was equally as devastating for the bad guys, and many of the spells that were interrupted before were still interrupted. This change actually works to the benefit of the party, for Jorgie brilliantly makes use of his anti magic shell to eliminate all the defensive magics that several of the foes have, and Redspring is able to fill them full of arrows tipped with deadly poison. Shortly into the battle, the enchanter is slain, and soon after Horik is also slain, but not before he neutralized Ulrich with a Freeze Person spell, putting him in temporary temporal stasis. Horik was unable to get both Jorgie and Ulrich, and thus Jorgies shell came into play, and Horik was likewise filled with arrows and cuts from the young paladins blades.
Elrin had reached the guard rooms and raised the alarm. The party was warned that it was imperative that this be prevented and guards started streaming into the room through all the doors. By this time, Jorgie had again maneuvered the shell around Felipe who had since been surrounded by the paladins, Wolfram, dwarves, and King Trent. Unable to move, he had tried to again make use of the Circlet, this time to change history so that Wolfram and Hallowed Redeemer would not be present, but he was slain by the raining blows of the righteous heroes before he could complete the act.
The remaining casters tried to recover, but the moment Felipe was gone, they knew that there was no hope. A quick thinking King Trent immediately grasped the rod from Felipe’s hand, and used its power to command the guards who might have caused serious trouble for the party. Suddenly, the fight was over and all had surrendered to the party. Unfortunately, the poison coursing through the veins of the last two casters took their lives. Only General Liam survived to surrender. Elrin had long escaped.
The party returned their attention to the magic mirror and were witness to the last defending forces of the High Temple of Lugh engaging the invading imperial army. They see the shimmerings of black power coalescing to that of Gaal and know that Lugh might show soon. Smythe has the idea of giving the blossom to Jeremiah and teleporting him there, to the spot they can see in the mirror, to save Lugh.